A line of thunderstorms that primarily moved through western and northern Chautauqua County affected the Jamestown-area as well. Sheriff's Department dispatchers say the storms produced some scattered power outages... and, high water or flooding issues. Part of Route 60 was flooded for a time near Spoden Road in the town of Pomfret. Here in the Jamestown-area... a tree limb came down on a power line near Emeritus of Lakewood about 4 PM... knocking out power to the area. That area including our Media One Group studios. Power was restored about 5:30... but, National Grid crews were at the scene through early evening. Power at our studios didn't fully come back on line until about 6 PM.
There are reports of fatalities in the wake of a line of storms that moved through western and central New York, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that knocked down trees, power lines and several buildings. Joanne LaBounty, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, says they have reports from local emergency officials of three deaths in collapsed buildings in the Madison County community of Smithfield. She says investigators will be in the area on Wednesday to determine if a tornado hit the area. In eastern New York, a weather service spokesman says there were reports of damage from strong thunderstorms, but no injuries or deaths.
Nearly a dozen upstate New York counties... including Chautauqua and Cattaraugus... have been given major, federal disaster declarations due to late May's severe flooding. That from Congressman Tom Reed... who says President Obama issued the declarations yesterday afternoon. Reed... who says the flooding took place in this part of the state between May 13th and 22nd... calls it "welcome news." However... County Executive Vince Horrigan calls it "great news." Horrigan says Chautauqua County sustained about one-million dollars in infrastructure damage. However... he says Federal Emergency Management Administration officials will have to confirm the totals first. However... Horrigan says they don't anticipate getting any coverage for residential or business damage. Still... he is urging residents and business owners who sustained a lot of damage to contact the county's Office of Emergency Services. Horrigan praised Congressman Reed... Governor Cuomo... and, the President for backing the declaration... which totaled about 27-million dollars for all the counties involved.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino says critics of New York's new educational standards should be able to voice their concerns by voting on a new ballot line called ``Stop Common Core.'' Astorino said Tuesday that petitions are circulating to add the line to the fall ballot. He says the line would let voters know which candidates oppose the standards, which have been criticized by teachers and parents. If approved... the line would appear along with the major parties... and, lesser ones like the Green Party and the Working Families Party.
A Westfield man who has been practicing law nearly 30 years... and, has been a town and village justice there for most of those years... has received the Democratic nomination to run for the county's new Family Court Judgeship. James Spann, Junior was selected during a meeting of the county's Democrat Committee Monday night. Spann believes he has the experience and "depth and breadth of experience" to be the county's second Family Court Judge. Spann... who has been a lawyer for 29 years... has a private law practice in Dunkirk. He's been a town and village justice for 27 of those years. Chautauqua County Democratic Committee Chairman Norm Green says Spann was the choice over Sally Jaroszynski from the Jamestown area.
The new owner of a scrap yard on Jamestown's westside has begun a 2.5-million dollar renovation project to improve it's look... eliminate dust... and, reduce traffic and noise. Ben Weitzman of Jamestown took over operation of the former Weinstein recycling facility in the Summer of 2010... but, neighbors living around the 610 West Eighth Street location have complained about dust and noise over the past several months. Owner Adam Weitzman says the "complete renovation" of the facility got underway back on June 28th... and, will include new structures... and, paved surfaces. Weitzman says the paving and new landscaping should take care of dust issues at the scrap yard. As for truck traffic... which he says is a product of getting several new customers... he says they plan to have a way for vehicles to get in, and out of the yard as quickly as possible. Weitzman says Weinstein didn't have many customers when they purchased the business... so with the added customers has come the added traffic. He says there will also be a detention pond on site to deal with water run-off during heavy rains. Weitzman says the project should take about a month to complete. He adds "we want to be a good neighbor."
